Wednesday, April 1, 2015

My Technology

Personal monologues – that is, autobiographical
monologues – are tough to pull off. They need to work without drama. They need
to be so personal that they’re universal. We need to like the actor, to
identify with them, and to see our own faults in them.

My
Technology, presented by Deena Levy Theatre Studio, is a set
of nine of this sort of monologue, revolving around technology and its effect
on our personal life (although in truth some of them touch on technology only
in passing).

The best monologue, which is very good and the only
one that works for us, is Danny Patrick’s piece Deaf Man Crossing. Mr. Patrick was in a coma for 12 days after a
bar fight. When he woke he had lost most of hearing. The pacing of his work is
very nice; we have the time to relate to what he’s saying and to care about him.
There are particularly welcome moments when he relates talking to his
grandmother, also hearing disabled, on the telephone. The technology tie-in
refers to the earbuds he wears.

There are some other nice points in the evening.
Graceann Dorse has one when she says “I know what it means to wait for luck.”
And Tom Miller has an interesting moment when he talks about virtual sex and
says guiltily “I know I should want someone to want me in her life.”

But for the most part the evening fails. We can’t
follow some of the monologues; the performers leave us behind. It was all conceived
and directed by Deena Levy, and she seems to have encouraged about half her
actors – the excitable ones – to speak as quickly as possible. She’s given us
the same tone between and within many of the monologues, without dynamic
differentiation. We’re given little insight into technology, only routine
observations like “I think I’m getting addicted to this new cyber-version of
myself.”

From time to time the actors in My Technology are endearing with their nervous smiles, but on the whole they
leave no impression on us.